Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-12
TRIALS OF PHYSICIANS.
A Doctor Talks Of tho Df0cultiss El
counteresl In Practicing Medicine.

cou"tcred In fracticinG Medicine.
''The first five years are the darkest IN
a young doctors life. said a well known
physician. 1T does not matter how
nicely he is getting on, he is sure to have
built his expectations too high. A medi-
cal man always thinks he Is doing better
than he is Leaving the simon pure
charity cases out of the question alto
gether, / have always thought myself
lucky if / collected one-haf of my &C.
counts. While a reputable doctor looks
upon advertising in general way as
something tabooed, many Of us. doubt
not, in our young days have resorted to
driving rapidly through various streets
in the middle of the day. never knew
this little scheme to hang fire. and by the
time got back to the office frequently
found two or three calls on the slate.
AN officious friend of mine. contin-
ued the doctor. 'once advised me to set
tie in the country, where the competition
wasn't 50 great. In six months came
near starving to death. The place was
50 Sarsely peopled and the patients SO
far apart that my time and clothes were
worth more than my fees. BY selling
my library / managed TO buy horse and
buggy. and 20 To work on the co-opera-
tive plan. divided the county off into
four districts, each of which | visited
once week. My methoa was to keep a
family in thorough repair for stipulated
sum per month. Nearly all the inhabi-
tants became subscribers. and l might
have thrived well on my little monopoly
If another smart doctor hadn t stepped in
and reduced the rate. returned to the
city, there settled down and married. and
after having had couple OF well known
men die on my hands, l found myself IA
nous and in possession of lucrative
practice.
NO. l don't think there is as much
bleeding of patients as is commonly sup
posed. OF course human nature is the
same IN doctor as in any one else. H.
Is always number one, and the patie,6
number two. There are some people
whom you have got to keep on the G;ck
list all the time. They would not be
happy unless they could tell their friends
all about the torpldIty OF their liver and
the unsoundness OF their lungs. A doctor
must humor such patients, and assure
them they are really i'll whenever they
take fancy to being so. This is kind
OF bleeding that will never stop SO long as
there are such people III the world. The
Old doctor l studied under used to tell a
good story at his own expense. In his
early days OF struggle a friend twitted
nun upon taxing SO long to cure patient.
."hy. man, replied the old doctor. i
nave SO lew PATIENTS that can t afford 10
cure any OF them.
Speaking OF quacks,' continued the
doctor after pause, '.you would be sur
prised what strong hold the empirical
fraternity has upon nervous people.
iheE are easily convinced that there Is
something awiui the matter with them.
An aggravated case OF this Kind recently
came under my notice. A man, whose
business often called hlm from home for
months at a time, rushed wildly into my
oflce one day and begged ME to visit his
wiie. lie SAID that II couldn { get her
out OF her megrims he would either have
70 procure divorce or commit suicide.
IL seemed that the woman, during one OF
her htistand perodical absences, feii
INTO the ciutches OF a female lecturer,
VINO pied her for all she was worth.
hen the husband returned he found her
the SHADOW oi her former self. She was
melancholy ana peevish. and was slowly
hnllSn